Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that not all that much pondering is needed when it is so obvious. We are in the midst of a crisis, and our government has the best plan in the world to address the economic crisis.

For example, our plan permanently reduces taxes and helps unemployed workers by improving employment insurance and training programs. Our plan creates jobs and helps the industries and communities most severely affected by the global recession. Our plan helps to create the economy of the future by improving post-secondary infrastructure and by supporting research and technology. Our plan makes it easier for Canadian business and households to access financing.

Our plan works. An unnecessary election triggered by political opportunism would only delay the implementation of our economic action plan, to the detriment of those who need it right way.

Mr. Speaker, the Congrès mondial acadien is a major gathering of Acadians from around the world held every five years. This year, the Acadian peninsula, in northeast New Brunswick, will host the fourth Congrès mondial acadien from August 7 to 23, 2009. It will be a unique occasion for the citizens living on the Acadian peninsula to show their warm hospitality and, above all, for Acadians from Canada and elsewhere to get together and celebrate their shared history and traditions with their cousins.

The highlight of the congress will undoubtedly be National Acadian Day and the traditional “tintamarre” or festive noisemaking on August 15. Over 50,000 people are expected to attend.

I invite all members to come celebrate with us and discover our vibrant culture. I hope all Acadians will enjoy the gathering. Welcome to all.

Mr. Speaker, this morning at the subcommittee on private members' business, the Liberals, Bloc and NDP revealed that they have a strategy to jointly and secretly kill efforts to repeal the long gun firearms registry. Their strategy is to make Bill C-391, the private member's bill that repeals the long gun registry, non-votable.

The three parties are well aware that all government MPs support this bill, along with enough opposition members to gain a majority in the House, so their solution was to kill it at an in camera meeting of the subcommittee by making it non-votable.

This morning the committee met in open session. The opposition members did not read the notice and did not realize that the meeting was open. Therefore, they stated openly that they have no basis under the Standing Orders to do what they are doing and deemed the bill non-votable. When it was revealed the vote was taking place publicly, they halted in mid-vote forcing the meeting to close its doors to the public.

The NDP and Liberal backbenchers who claim to want to end the registry can still stop this unparliamentary action by telling their leaders they do not want the bill to be killed in secret and in silence.

Mr. Speaker, following the Iranian presidential election held on June 12, many supporters of presidential candidate Mousavi are reacting with shock and disbelief. Hope faded when, merely two hours after polls closed, the Interior Ministry announced that candidate Ahmadinejad had been re-elected with more than 62% of the vote.

According to numerous press sources, as well as the Mousavi camp, Iranian authorities took a different approach for these elections, bypassing the normal three-day verification and declaration process. Mr. Mousavi had appealed to the Guardian Council to annul the results.

In 1953, that large country where 70% of the population is under 30 years of age had its democratic revolution stolen away by the United States and Great Britain, which were hungry for its oil resources. Time has come for it to finally enjoy democratic life.

Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that we learned of the death of yet another of our brave soldiers in Afghanistan.

I would like to express our sincere condolences and sympathies to the family and loved ones of Corporal Martin Dubé, from the 5 Combat Engineer Regiment based at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, Quebec.

Corporal Dubé was killed by an improvised explosive device he was trying to disarm. He died doing his duty, and for that, his memory shall forever be honoured.

I know that all of my colleagues join me in saluting Corporal Dubé's courage and sense of duty. We continue to be proud of Canadian Forces soldiers as they carry out their very dangerous missions in Afghanistan.

Corporal Dubé is the 120th of our brave men and women of the Canadian Forces to make the ultimate sacrifice since the beginning of the Afghan mission. May none of them ever be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, a few months ago the Liberal leader said, “We will have to raise taxes”. That is the plan he has for Canada. He wants to raise taxes on hard-working Canadian families at a time when they need more money in their pockets. The Liberals want to raise the GST, impose a job-killing carbon tax and eliminate the universal child care benefit.

These Liberal policies are not what Canadians are looking for. That is why they so clearly rejected the Liberals in the last election.

In contrast, our Conservative government is firmly reducing the tax burden on Canadians. We are further providing tax relief and improved access to financing for Canadian households and businesses.

Because of our government's prudent management of the country's finances and the economy, Canada is in a much stronger position to weather the global recession than most other countries.

Our government will continue to take whatever actions are necessary to protect Canadians from the worst impacts of the global recession.

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are looking for a government that has a plan, and it still does not have one for the isotope crisis.

Thousands of worried Canadians are not getting their cancer tests. The Dutch and the Americans can ramp up production, but they cannot make up the shortfall and they cannot guarantee that isotopes will end up in Canadian hospitals. We are facing a growing national health care crisis.

What is the current shortage of isotopes supply in Canada and what is the government's plan to make up the shortfall?

As the Leader of the Opposition knows, the government's approach is to work with suppliers across the world on isotopes and also with providers here to encourage alternative treatments. We believe we have enough isotopes available to manage the current situation and to enable other diagnostic tests to be used in cases where isotopes cannot be provided.

However, let me go to a related issue. Last week the Prime Minister announced that he was taking Canada out of the isotopes business. The reaction from medical experts around the world has been one of shock. They point out that if Canada backs out of isotopes production, it will take “a minimum of 10 to 15 years to bring a new solution online”. That means 10 to 15 years of global supply shortages, if Canada ceases production.

Mr. Speaker, first, this is not new. The government made this decision some time ago after the failure of the MAPLE project.

The previous Government of Canada put $600 million into the MAPLE project, with no prospect in sight of the production of a single medical isotope. That is why the government has decided to invest in the extension of the Chalk River reactor and to work with suppliers around the world on longer term management of the isotopes supply.

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, this is not new. This decision was made with each MAPLE project funded by the former government that did not produce a single isotope, despite an investment of $600 million. We have decided to spend money on prolonging the life of the current reactor and on working with other countries that provide a long-term supply of isotopes.

Mr. Speaker, our government's plan is clear. We allocated funds for a limited time to ensure that we would return to a surplus situation at the end of the recession. We are still following the economic action plan from our latest budget. To make that happen, we have to avoid spending the tens of billions of dollars in new money the opposition is asking for.

Mr. Speaker, none of the economists believe the government on the budget.

Let us compare the Conservative report to Barack Obama's plan. With the click of a mouse, I discovered that Obama allocated $25 billion for medicaid grants and actually spent $19 billion. I also discovered that the Department of Veterans Affairs had been allocated $30 million and spent almost nothing.

At least the Americans get honesty from their government. When will the minister tell Canadians how much he has actually spent?